Williams attended Lakewood High School in Colorado, graduating in 1978. He was on the track team, played football, and wrestled all four years. Williams graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1981 after a football career that saw him named an All-American. He also competed as an amateur wrestler, where he was a four time All American, finishing 6th as a freshman, 5th as a sophomore, 3rd as a junior and 2nd as a senior. His senior year he lost in the finals of an NCAA tournament to future Olympic medalist Bruce Baumgartner. Already interested in professional wrestling, Williams had a ready-made nickname that dated back to an incident in junior high wherein he had to wrestle in a hockeygoalie's mask and was jokingly labeled "Dr. Death" by one of his school's coaches.

During the 1990s, Williams continued to work for All Japan Pro Wrestling and became a main eventer for the company, making him one of the most successful foreign athletes in Japanese wrestling history. On July 28, 1994, he defeated Mitsuharu Misawa for the AJPW Triple Crown Championship, holding it for three months before dropping it to Toshiaki Kawada. He also sporadically wrestled in the U.S. on the independent circuit. That run was brought to an end during one of his appearances in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). After defeating Axl Rotten in approximately 2 minutes, Williams had an impromptu ECW World Heavyweight Championship match, but lost after being pinned by then-champion Raven. The loss happened in February 1997 at ECW Crossing the Line Again, thus ending his unpinned streak in North America, which lasted since March 26, 1987.

In 1998, Williams was signed by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) prior to the "Brawl for All" competition which was set up in legitimate fights. He entered the competition and was expected to win it due to his reputation as one of the toughest men in the wrestling business. However, after beating Pierre Carl Ouellet in the first round, he faced Bart Gunn in the semifinals and suffered a torn hamstring. Gunn then knocked out Williams, who missed several months following the injury. Following the event, Williams was involved in a brief angle where he was managed by Jim Ross in early 1999 before Williams was released. During his time with Ross, he would attack people with suplexes. Jim Cornette later said that because of how his WWF career had gone he had legitimate bad feelings toward his longtime friend Ross, whom he blamed for the entire thing; Williams was being groomed by Vince McMahon as a possible contender for the WWF Championship that was in the possession of Stone Cold Steve Austin during the Brawl for All tournament.

In 2004, Williams underwent surgery for throat cancer and was declared cancer-free the next year. He made an appearance at a SmackDown! brand house show on March 11, 2006, in Alexandria, Louisiana, after which he was signed to help train up-and-coming WWE wrestlers in its Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) developmental territory. While acting in that capacity, he made a few appearances on OVW television, where he helped fellow Oklahoma wrestler Jake Hager and briefly working as his tag team partner. He also made an appearance at an August 30 Raw house show, during which he addressed the crowd and announced how happy he was to be cancer free for four years.

After the death of longtime rival and friend Mitsuharu Misawa in June 2009, Williams made the decision to retire from wrestling after 27 years. Williams's final American match took place August 15 in Colorado Springs, Colorado, for Asylum Championship Wrestling. He defeated Franco D'Angelo for the ACW Heavyweight Championship, which he vacated after the match.[7] His final match was held on October 25 in Tokyo.

The throat cancer eventually returned and Williams's health gradually worsened. His last public appearance was at the K&S Wrestlefest Wrestling Convention on December 12, 2009, in Carteret, New Jersey. On December 29, 2009, Williams died at St. Anthony Central Hospital in Denver from throat cancer.[8] He was 49 years old.

1Gordy and Williams unified the WCW World Tag Team Championship with the NWA World Tag Team Championship after winning the NWA title in a tag team tournament. This happened nearly four years after Ted Turner's purchase of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling from Jim Crockett, Jr. He renamed the promotion World Championship Wrestling, but it remained an NWA affiliate until September 1993. As a result, the two titles were separated once more and Gordy and Williams were then recognized as having two separate title reigns with two different titles rather than one unified reign.2This promotion, while operating out of the same area and using some of the same regional championships, is not the same promotion once owned by Jim Crockett, Jr. and did not begin operating until the mid-1990s.